Erratic Walk, Impaired Mind

By

Christopher Shea

Jun 15, 2012 10:13 am ET

Sensors that track how quickly older people walk may eventually serve as an early-detection system for cognitive decline, researchers report.

They installed infrared sensors on the hallway ceilings of some 90 people over the age of 70, all of whom lived alone, and monitored* the participants for up to three years. The participants began the study either cognitively healthy, mildly impaired with memory loss, or mildly impaired without memory loss (suffering from disorientation, say). Partly because it was the larger of the two impaired groups, the researchers focused on the “nonamnestic” impaired.